11.1
Source: zippo.com.
Ë
company produces the Zippo Lighter Collectors’
Guide, containing illustrations of the lighters and descriptions of the series, as well as an explanation of the date code found on the bottom of every Zippo lighter. Clubs for lighter collectors have been organ- ized in the United Kingdom, Italy, Switzerland, Germany, Japan and the United States. Zippo also sponsors it own collectors club, Zippo Click.
Questions
1 What are the pros and cons of the product diver- sification strategy that Zippo has been following recently?
2 On www.sramarketing.com/experience/outdoor/
case_studies/zippo_casestudy.cfm you will find a case story, where Zippo in the late 1990s was repositioned as an essential tool for avid outdoorsmen. However the outdoor market was entirely new to the Zippo salesforce, who were accustomed to calling on tobacconists and con- venience stores. How would you use the PLC concept for this case story?
3 What obstacles would Zippo Manufacturing Company face if it repeated the outdoor campaign in other countries?
For further exercises and cases, see this book’s website at www.pearsoned.co.uk/hollensen
? Questions for discussion
1 How would you distinguish between services and products? What are the main implications of this difference for the global marketing of services?
2 To what degree should international markets be offered standardized service and warranty policies that do not differ significantly from market to market?
3 Why is the international product policy likely to be given higher priority in most firms than other elements of the global marketing mix?
4 What are the requirements that must be met so that a commodity can effectively be transformed into a branded product?
5 Discuss the factors that need to be taken into account when making packaging decisions for international product lines.
6 What are the distinguishing characteristics of services? Explain why these charac- teristics make it difficult to sell services in foreign markets.
7 Identify the major barriers to developing international brands.
8 Discuss the decision to add or drop products to or from the product line in inter- national markets.
9 What are the characteristics of a good international brand name?
10 What are the major causes of international price escalation? Suggest possible courses of action to deal with this problem.
11 Explain how exchange rate and inflation affect the way you price your product.
12 In order to protect themselves, how should marketers price their product in a country with high inflation?
13 International buyers and sellers of technology frequently disagree on the appro- priate price for knowledge. Why?
14 What methods can be used to compute a transfer price (for transactions between affiliated companies)?
15 Why is it often difficult to compute fair arm’s-length transfer prices?
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